Integrative biology: From molecules to ecosystems in extreme environments

Looking very much forward to attend another great event in Santiago de Chile

Block the date in your agenda, hope to meet many of you in April

Interested in attending? Visit the website:

http://meetings.embo.org/event/19-extreme-environments

Integrative Systems and Synthetic Biology endeavors are most effective when there is a template available. Chile contains some of the most extreme conditions of all inhabited countries on the planet. From Patagonia in the extreme south, to the 20-degree range in temperatures for marine life on the coasts, to the plant life in the highest elevation desert there are species that have adapted and evolved to survive under diverse and extreme conditions. Using them as templates can highlight changes in pathways from energy and oxygen metabolism to lipid synthesis, DNA damage repair, and cellular mechanical stability. Likewise, from isolated human populations at the top of the Andes to miners at the base and fisherman on the coast there is an enormous diversity in responses to hypoxia conditions, temperature, and diet. The goal of this EMBO Workshop is to fuse Chilean expertise on biodiversity and local extremophiles with European expertise in metabolic and damage-response pathways, high-throughput sequencing, proteomic and bioinformatics, and biotechnology platforms to develop a set of blueprints for systems adaptations in changing climates and ecosystems. The knowledge gained from studying these extremophiles and diversity should lead to the engineering of better agro- and aqua-culture species that can survive climate changes, optimizing microorganisms to produce new synthetic polymers based on how they resist the elements and/or degrade manufacturing byproducts, and developing better mechanisms for treating hypoxia and damage from other environmental stresses.